When Jimmy Rollins slid past Yorvit Torrealba in the 12th inning last night, the Phillies achieved something historic. On August 10, the Braves beat Houston 4-2, while the Phillies went down 15-9 to Los Angeles in a wild game that ended with pinch-hitter Cole Hamels popping out to left. Until last night, that was the last time the Braves and Phillies had both played on the same night with different results. Now, the Phillies stand only two games back of Atlanta, ready to take another crack at the NL-leading Padres.

It’s truly remarkable that the Phillies won last night, considering that the Padres have far and away the best bullpen in baseball. No other bullpen has a lower ERA, more strikeouts, or a lower opponent batting average. You all know all-star closer Heath Bell, but four Padres relievers (of which Bell is not one) have a WHIP under 1.000. Bell is one of four relievers to post an ERA under 2.00 in more than 20 appearances. And for you Chase Utley/Ryan Howard/Raul Ibanez/Dom Brown fans, San Diego LOOGY Joe Thatcher’s WHIP is 0.671. That’s right, he allows roughly half as many baserunners per inning as starter Jon Garland. Better hope the Phillies get to Garland early.

The ultimate beer produced by one of the seven Trappist breweries in Europe. Rochefort 10 is a dark, superlatively smooth ale best enjoyed warm. At 11.3% ABV, it’s not for the faint of heart, but it’s not super-high-grav for super-high-grav’s sake: Beeradvocate ranks it as the sixth-best beer on Earth, making it the highest-quality beer I’ve ever tasted personally. -By Michael

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174 Comments

JAY-AKA-PHILLYBOY

August 28, 2010 at 3:13 pm

Whats up guys,game is on tv for me so i will not be posting today!I know my positive crew will hold the fort down today!!!Us regulars were getting hammered in the other threads,about are posting skills…….I say whatever,we know who the real fans are on this site!!!!!!!!!!!!!As always go phillies,need a good game from joe-blow today!!!!!

Read this morning thread , the original chuck p must be a pulitzer prize
winning writer. He talks down to the posters on here like theyre not
intelligent. This blog is for people to vent anyway they want, Its an open
forum. Get off your high horse and don’t be so critical your highness.

Howard sucks. Start someone else for a while. Sweeney, anyone. He is honestly a buzzkill, a sure out when he comes to the plate anymore. He doesn’t have it and he isn’t gonna find it when he keeps getting out. Let him sit more. Can’t do anymore harm then he is at the plate right now.

I keep finding myself surprised at how good Blanton really is and then I keep asking myself why.

After what I’ve heard from Wheeler and McCarthy’s performance on Tuesday night, I’m still not longing for those two bozos despite the heavy bias of the Fox announcers. I have a feeling I’ll be longing for Franzke and Anderson once I get to work, though.

At least Howard’s making contact today. Now let’s move up to blasting line drives into gaps.

What up nation ? — hey andrew , i’m down wildwood nj , wifi workin !
Just poured my 1st rum n coke of the day , rolled the tv out on the balcony. Lookin at the late afternoon sun go down over the ocean and
watchin fox. Sometimes lifes good ! — ALL I NEED IS A WIN !

bacardi andrew—— hey philly i read your openng post about the genious that was talkin down to some of the people on the board.
Maybe that guy can indulge the rest of us commoners with his pulitzer prize winning writing style. Get of your high horse dude this site is for people to say or vent any frustrations they want. I don’t agree with alot of whats said , but thats the point of a blog right ?

Typical Joe Blanton, typical Phillies. Unreal how many pitchers get hits off of the Phillies. Anyone realize that there have been a grand total of three x-tra base hits in this series? Can you imagine if the Phils lineup played 81 games at Petco?

adam , i’m glad you brought that up . I know our team is low key , but did you notice how intense the padres were last nite ? Everytime you saw a shot of them they were goin nuts in the dugout. I think this relates to why its so hard to get back to the world series 2 times let alone 3 times in a row. When your the champs everyone’s gunnin for you
don’t you expect every team we play to give us theyre best. Combine that with an older team comin off three long seasons in a row and its easier for fans to try and understand the grind of 162 games and playoffs. Everyone goin overboard should sit back and look at where were at considering the injurys and be happy. I know one of you guys knows where we were the last couple years in the standings on aug 28th . ????????????

andrew agree 1000% — its not baseball , they put it in like 1973 right?
when was it ? —— pitching really dominated in the 60’s and early 70’s
and they did it obviously to increase scoring , but did it have anything to do with trying to increase tv ratings ?

The Phillies fans have dominated this series. Like Braves fans who show up all of 15k strong for a first place team, the Padre fans should be absolutely ashamed that they are not selling out that stadium every night. MLB better hope that the Phils, Reds, Cards make the playoffs so stadiums are jammed packed with people. Imagine a Braves Pads series where the average attendance is 35k. They are pathetic sports cities.

Howard continuing to be awful. Not sure why teams are not playing five men in the second base area for these guys. They are peppering the second basemen.

Hope your reading this bravo-a$$ ——– your absence is why we have no respect for you and never will. Real BASEBALL fans are not trolls.
When i do go on other teams sites i represent my team with class and show up whether we win or lose. Your a coward and a punk !

Nice win…..i think the Phils once an offensive power house…have turned more into a team that relies on pitching…now if they can combine the two…funny Shane just said the same thing in his post interview…i started typing before he said it…lol

Andrew -didn’t Wheeler replace McCarver on our broadcast team when McCarver went national? I’m pretty sure, but can’t quite remember how that all went down. Anyway, I have to say that the only thing I like about Wheeler is his McCarver impression. It’s like listening to the guy that drives me crazy, impersonating another guy that drives me crazy

Remember I was born in 1971
But i think your memory serves you here.
When I was a kid Mccarver was one of my favorites. I dont want to dislike him but it is impossible not to.

He began his broadcasting career at WPHL-TV (Channel 17) where he was paired with Richie Ashburn and Harry Kalas, before co-hosting HBO’s Race for the Pennant in 1978 and working as a backup Game of the Week commentator for NBC in 1980.

How bad are the braves announcers that I choose to watch the Marlins feed? Sadly the Mets have the best announcers in the division minus Hernandez. If we did sarge 6 innings and Wheeler 3 id be happy. I could handle wheeler for 3 innings.

anybody know whats up with L.A. he missed some games on the homestand i guess he was “sick?” sarge had to fill in…i know wheels was on with scott F. today… you know as a analyst he seems to being some games lately …hopefully everything is ok?…..too much time in the pool?

Yeah, Dibble is better than Wheels. I really don’t watch them that much. I don’t liek when he cheers things, like when one of their hitters hits a ball well, he yells “get up”- or “Get out” while the other guy is describing the play. But his analysis is good, and obviously he’s honest. That’s what got him in trouble on ESPN too I think.

Why do they hire guys and then don’t let them speak?

Most people think I’m nuts, but I really like Hawk Harrelson on the White Sox games. MERCY! Kind of cornball I guess, but for some reason I like it.

Wheels showed up, inexplicably, out of nowhere, in 1977. This gave the Phils a broadcast lineup of Richie, Harry, Wheels, Andy Musser, and Chris Wheeler. Chris Wheeler played little league baseball in Newtown Square, PA. Rob Dibble is infintely better than Wheels, as are most color guys. Wheels actually did play by play for 3 innings of Phillies games for years when Harry did innings 4-6 on the radio. He was not bad at play by play. The Dipsy’s all time favorite color guys:

Wow didnt know Baez went on Dl….this will probably render him pretty much useless….since it will take him a month to get back his command which he never had in the 1st place….although lately he seem to be doing ok….Bastardo is brilliant in minors but struggles in Majors…

I really like dibble but the play by play guy Carpenter may be the worst play by play in majors. I love the Sf and arizona Tv guys. The worst are the Marlins and braves and yankees. Harrelson doesnt annoy me as much as one would think but I dont love him. I like mccarthy and sarge and Franzke and anderson. So I am not hating on phillie broadcasters.

Baez wasnt going to be on the playoff raoster anyway. You know he had over 40 saves one year and was an all star.

Franzke and LA are my favorites right now, and as we discussed the other day, I really like Sarge. I think Scott and TMac fell into as bad a situation as possible when HK died. But IMO Franzke came through with flying colors, he’s terrific and the chemistry with LA is perfect, and some of his calls are epic. (09 NCLS Game 4 JRoll walk-off) TMac, I think I’m starting to get more used to him. I wish he’d increase his verbage. I can watch any phillies highlight and predict what he will say. (This one’s pretty well hit, gone!) But then I guess you could say the same about Harry Kalas, and in my world Harry is beloved as THE best ever.

Philly has a plentitude of color guys that could step in. Mitch Williams, John Kruk, Ricky Bo (my personal favorite). The problem is that the Phils would never hire a guy that would be critical of the team, hence “Wheels”.

One time I asked Garry Maddox (in a bar, he lives near me) why he never stuck with the games and he told me that he didn’t want to travel and not watch his kids grow up. Maddox and Jim Barniak used to do all the home games for PRISM when they had the sole rights to the home games. When that expired and PHL and CSN took over, they offered Garry the job and he turned them down for the reason cited above. I must say I really enjoyed the insight and dulcet tones of Garry Lee Maddox (who happens to be Sarge’s bestie) and wish he was still around.

Wow Brooks, you just totally butchered that word you were just trying to spell. Ha. I dont think that its “sacrilegious” (I looked it up). We should talk more general baseball on here sometimes. I think that Gowdy, Garaciola, Kubek was the greatest broadcasting team. If it was World Series in the late 60s or 70s, it was those guys you listened too. And for good reason.

Jroll had quite a game the other night and then vanished once again, not to be heard from in subsequent games. Vic had a great game yesterday, do we expect the same thing now? It’s almost “I’ve done my part, someone elses turn…”

I know that is foolish but it’s hard to understand how a player could be so “on” one game and the following night be a non-factor.

Of course don’t forget how different TV was back then. Nearly all of America had 3 stations to choose from and basically no baseball coverage. The “Game of the Week” was a treat and usually featured the Yanks.

I remember Gowdy. Kubek was great…as was Garagiola. I think it was actually NBC but I could be wrong. Loved Maddox as an analyst, too. And I REALLY miss Whitey.

unlike I lot of you, I actually LIKE Wheeler. I had to work yesterday and had the game on the radio (might have done that anyway…I HATE Fox). Anyway, Franske was paired with Wheels and I thought it was good. Wheels knows a lot about the game for someone who never played it professionally. He’s a Philly guy and I think that really counts for something.

If they’re gonna bring someone else in, though, I would DEFINITELY love to see Ricky Bo.

Remember the theme for ABC’s Wide World of Sports? “The thrill of vicotry and the agony of defeat? I actually have that as a ringtone when I get a text msg. (Yeah..I’m serious. I’m weird)

Dipsy….it’s pretty short…..it’s just the voiceover guy saying, “The thrill of vicory and the agony of defeat” set to the music theme. It’s not the whole thing but it’s pretty cool. I’ve gotten lots of comments. You want me to send it?? … No problem.